Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss

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Kiran Desai acknowledged that she “... spent a very long time writing and rewriting

The Inheritance of Loss

” and “... found it a devastating book to write” (Gee, 33; 35). Written over a period of eight years, the novel was first published in the USA by Atlantic Monthly Press in 2006 and was awarded the Man Booker Prize in the same year. It was also shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2007. Desai’s second novel, it “registers the multicultural reverberations of the new millennium with the sensitive instrumentality of fiction” (Ezard). Its invested engagement with the experiences of colonialism, post-coloniality and globalization, its interested exploration of meta-narratives and minor histories, and its celebratory mockery of mapping and borders-drawing make this memorable…

2719 words

Citation: Alterno, Letizia. "The Inheritance of Loss". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 April 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=24329, accessed 23 November 2024.]

24329 The Inheritance of Loss 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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